Garden lunch party with neighbors...

Did a check on the history of this blog and found out that today is actually the 8th anniversary of my blog...

Hosted a garden lunch party for fifteen of our neighbors last Saturday...

That was the fourth straight year that we had been hosting this event...

Hamburgers are not really in my normal 'to-eat' list of stuff...

But this one was pretty good, I must admit...

One of our neighbors made it for the party and hmmm, my missus was surprised upon seeing my munching on that plate...

Bologna sausage, and smoked salmon... specially ordered from Kobe by another neighbor...

Good stuff...

We were very happy to welcome the presence of the parents of one of our neighbors...

They stay in another city and came all the way to join us...

Last year, only the mother came, but this year, the father came along too...

And the maze-gohan onigiri (mixed rice ball?) made by the mother... wooh, full of ingredients and goodies...

Meanwhile, the daughter herself, who is our neighbor, made this walnut-banana cake...

Urmmm, very good texture and taste...

Yet another neighbor, for the last three years or so, presented us with this made-from-scratch soba noodles...

It was just 'straight' soba... unpretentious, and to the point... very wholesome stuff...

With all these good stuff to enjoy, am sure looking forward to hosting our neighbors again next autumn...

Potluck party with neighbors on a windy autumn's day

We had the honor of hosting the 3rd potluck party for our neighbors last Sunday...

Seven families got together for a day of yakking and for delicious, homemade food...

The wind was pretty strong and the temperatures, somewhat chilly...
But that didn't stop us from having a ball of a time...

First, home-made buckwheat noodles aka soba made from scratch...

According to our friend, the combination was 90% buckwheat flour and 10% wheat flour...
Excellent, excellent taste...

Some salad, oriental style with cucumber, tomatoes, egg, ham...

 Fried dumplings... crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside...

Ginko nuts... peeled and lightly fried in oil, and served with a pince of salt...

O-yaki... in other words, Japanese yam, lotus root, glutinous rice flour, and seaweed fried in light oil over a flat pan...

This dish was new to us and while the dish did not look that 'photogenic', the taste was good... my missus ended up asking for the recipe...

Update for Alice:
(Managed to ask our neighbor about the recipe... )

Grate Japanese yam（山芋）, lotus root and keep aside...
Mix with 上新粉（top-grade rice flouｒ）
Add seaweed (after softening in water)
Blend all ingredients in bowl and make into patties...
Fry over flat pan over some sesame oil until slightly brown...

Serve with some soy sauce...

Braised(?) pork with fresh veggies done up by one of the husbands...

Our contribution... horse mackeral, deep fried outdoors in our garden...

Fire and utensils were prepared by yours truly while the lady of the house took charge of the cooking...

The fish was immediately dipped into a concoction of vinegar, Japanese rice wine, and lots of fresh vegetables...

And left to season for one night for better taste...
I ate the fish whole... bones, fish head, fins, meat and all...

Plus, vinegrette Spanish Mackeral... also prepared by my suweeto haato on the previous day so as to 'enhance' the flavor...

This dish proved to be very popular among the attendees...

The sweets, various types, were brought all the way from Kobe...

Besides these goodies, there were drinks soft and hard, chocolates, persimmons, grapes, and freshly brewed black mint tea...  

We were very happy that our neighbors enjoy the party as much as we did...

And we are looking forward to hosting the fourth gathering for sure...

Rainy season continues in Japan...

The rainy season at where I live normally comes around the month of June...
This year, it has really been very 'rainy'...
The rains had arrived early at the end of May, and we have had rain almost every day since...

But God is kind... Especially on the one weekend when we had friends over...

There was home-made rice sushi...

which was healthy and tasty...

My missus made some hotcakes...

Topped with some peanut butter...

Plain, but delicious...

For the fruit course, we simply had the 'smile cut' oranges...

Nothing fancy but an afternoon well spent with friends...
There was some leftovers... fried chicken, boiled egg...
Which came in handy for our lunch the next day...

Garden party... one Saturday in May...

Each spring for the last five years or so, we have had the pleasure and honor of inviting a bunch of friends (senior folks, actually) over for a pot-luck garden party...

The 'menu' is almost always predictable...

As in the sashimi...

This 'hamachi' (yellowtail), its meat is very succulent and I just love the taste of it...
The hamachi is designated the official fish of Kagawa prefecture...
Reason is, Kagawa first pioneered the rearing of this pelagic fish...

Plus, maguro (tuna), sawara (Spanish mackeral?), and katsuo (bonito?) sashimi...

Eaten with a dash of wasabi and soy sauce, urrrmm...

The 'oden', however, made its first appearance this time...

It is sort of like a stew with various ingredients thrown in and cooked in slow heat over several hours...
Took a bite off that octopus... real tender and tasty...

The same lady brought a second dish...

Which is her specialty... the home-made smoked chicken...

A little too salty for me but still, tasted good...  

For as long as I can recall, an 80-year-old-plus husband and wife team again brought 'o-kowa'...

Glutinous rice steamed with lots of veggies, that is...

No meat here... chewy and very popular dish among us...

The glutinous rice dish goes hand in hand with this 'tsukemono' (radish pickles)...
Tasted somewhat like one type of pickled young mangoes?

As in previous potlucks, this group of folks from a neighboring town always turn up fully geared (with pots and pans) to cook 'tempura'...
The 'seri' is some sort of mountain vegetable... very fragrant...

And they always go to the hills to dig out fresh young bamboo shoots...
Alhough we do not favour too much tempura or fried stuff, the other guests were really enjoying themselves with this dish...

Among our guests this time, we had a chef who specializes in French cuisine...
He did not cook anything French, but he dished out this simple yet very delicious 'somen' (thin wheat noodles)...

Unplanned as it was, the somen went extremely well with the crispy tempuras...

And finally, some fruit punch to seal the event...
I swore not to over-eat that day, but, but...

I was supposed to cook roast chicken with the dutch oven...
But was too occupied with setting up the venue...
Moreover, our guests had always told us to just provide the venue and the opportunity to meet at our garden...
They will take care of the food, they say...
We are very happy to see them enjoying our garden...
They have been coming back year after year, and we certainly look forward to having them again next spring...